Since man first began preserving foods in can type containers, the rapid cooling of these containers after heating to preserve the contents thereof has been a problem. If the cans are not cooled evenly, hot spots will develop which can cause spoilage. Long cooling conveyors have traditionally been used with liquid coolants such as water being used to speed up the cooling process.
The above systems are usually linear thus requiring large amounts of space for installation of the same. They also do not usually include any recirculation means since once the water is heated during the cooling process, it will cost more to cool it for recycling than it would to use additional fresh water while dumping the hot water. Thus large space requirements and large volumes of water have been required to effectively operate these prior known systems.
Although attempts have been made to reduce the floor space required by normal can cooling systems as well as means for reducing the water consumption thereof, up until now no completely suitable system has been developed.